Customer Reviews

Tom Horn: Blood on the Moon : Dark History of the Murderous Cattle Detective

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Introduced to the epic of Tom Horn by the excellent western movie starring Steve McQueen, I wanted to find a book and read more about the history of a man who, on the one hand, seemed a ruthless killer and on the other seemed the unfortunate dupe of the big business of the day--the cattle barons.

Tom Horn: Blood on the Moon: The Dark History of the Murderous Cattle Detective fit the bill marvelously. I came away with what I believe is an accurate history of the hapless Tom Horn and, more interestingly, names of several interesting characters who contributed to the demise of arguably a great American hero.

Key among these characters was Joe LeFors, the very same detective and lawman who made life miserable for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Named Joe Bell in the movie, LeFors methods were, shall we say, "creative."

We are tempted to believe that political scandals, scapegoats and other applicable cloak and dagger are primarily of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Read Tom Horn: Blood on the Moon... and find out the rest of the story.

Chip Carlson has certainly done his research for this book. Unfortunately, he hasn't brought it all together in a cohesive and readable manner. His narrative often meanders on tangents that are superfluous to the story, filled with anecdotes and trivia, that while demonstrating Carlson's keen grasp of his subject matter, add little to the story of Tom Horn. If you are looking for a first-read about Tom Horn, this is not the book for you. On a positive note, the book does have a good collection of vintage photographs of many of the personalities and settings involved in the Tom Horn saga.

An exceptional documentary dealing with one of Wyoming's most notorious citizens, one that reads like a novel. Although much has been written about Tom Horn, Chip Carlson has done an excellent job of presenting new facts and information furthing adding to the controversey over Horn's guilt in the murder of young Willie Nickell.

Chip Carlson, who has studied Wyoming's notorious Tom Horn for more than a decade, has written the best-ever researched story on this subject. This is a must-read for everyone with even the most remote interest in the Old West. - Larry K. Brown

The best word I can think of to describe this book is FANTASTIC.Chip Carlson has written another masterpiece on the subject.
To me just about every chapter leaves you craving more information, and thats what a good book should do.His indepth research is amazing on how he has put it into a format for persons interested in this period of western history.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants more insight into the times trials and tribulations of 1890's Wyoming.

This book seems to be very well researched and written.
In the past I've read a lot about Tom Horn and his trial/hanging. However, I learned a lot more from reading this book. Actually, this is the first book that I've read on this subject that points strongly to the real culprit in the shooting of the boy.

Chip Carlson is a master historian-storyteller, whose definitive account of the notorious Tom Horn's later years is a "must" for anyone seriously interested about the dark side of the Old West. In fact, perusing Carlson's work is like eating peanuts; first you read one page, then two and, before you know it, you've consumed the entire book.

Although this book seems to contain a well documented, and at times, interesting account of Tom Horn and the Nickell murder, its about as much fun to read as a treatise on the history of linear-regression analysis. Mr. Carlson's poorly constructed syntax and meandering story lines makes this book a "plodding" experience.

Having seen and admired Steve McQueen's Tom Horn, I was glad to read that the hanging machine by water weight was a fact although much more detail is given it in the book. The movie as movies will, portrayed Horn too sympathetically. The details serve well to see him as a killer but the rich men that contracted him did not get caught. The more times change, the more they stay the same!

Add my name to the list of reviewers who love this book. What a surprise! I never heard of it and came across the title by accident. A real hidden gem. Painstaking research and a reporters style of writing. Hard to put down, and not a dull spot in the entire book. Just plain interesting. Now the book sits on the shelf with bio's of Hickok, Earp, Will Bonney. Kind of a footnote to the Johnson County Range War,catagorized with Banditti of the plains, Cowboy Detective, west of the texas kid, Butch Cassidy era/region.